Wallyhood Wine Tasting

Amidst the wine hullabaloo over in East Wallingford, let’s not forget the small, well appointed wine shop City Cellars (1710 North 45th St), which has served up good advice and good wine in downtown Wallingford for over 21 years.

While their usual weekly tastings are on hiatus for December, owner Michael Herndon has offered to host a special, Wallyhood-readers-only wine tasting this Friday, December from 5 – 7 pm. There’s no cost for the tasting, so just stop in with your palatte cleansed and ready. As a bonus, Michael is donating one bottle of the 2008 Delille Cellars D2 to a Wallyhood reader: just click “like” on our Facebook story about this tasting to enter the drawing.

Here’s what Michael will be pouring. See you Friday!

2008 Abeja Chardonnay, Washington: Carefully chosen cool climate sites provide the fruit for this Chardonnay. We then employ all of the traditional techniques: whole cluster pressing, barrel fermentation, and aging sur lie. The result is a Chardonnay with elegance and richness that is balanced with nice acidity making it an excellent companion to food.  (from Abeja web site)

2008 Delille Cellars D2, Washington: In an outstanding Merlot year coupled with the addition of Red Willow Vineyard Merlot to the blend, our 2008 D2 does not disappoint and can be expected to stand out as a stellar example of the vintage. This wine has an extremely expressive nose of toasted black cherries, violets, lavender, thyme, all encapsulated in subtle mocha espresso from the oak. On the palate, rich dark fruits of blackberries and black cherries co-mingle with chocolate nuances. The 2008 D2 is extremely charming, rich and unusually complex — a truly exceptional vintage for D2.  (from Delille web site)

2005 Giribaldi Barbaresco, Piedmont, Italy: These grapes come from the vineyard of 0.9 hectares in the community of Neive, with an altitude of 350 meters above sea level; this ground varies in composition, with the base being that of Marl-Calcareous. The vineyard has a South exposure.  A ruby red color of medium intensity and purplish reflexes. A floral perfume with particular notes of wild roses, raspberries and cinnamon; a dry balanced taste with scents of Vanilla, leather and tobacco.  (from Giribaldi web site)

2003 Smith Woodhouse Port, Portugal:The 2003 wines have great ‘traditional’ tannic structure with attractive ripe fruit flavors – classic Vintage Port. Very dark, opaque. Lifted floral aromas on the nose. Combination of floral notes and “esteva” with spicy peppery undertones. Very powerful and rich with tightly packed layers of ripe berry fruit flavors on the palate which provide a persistent, very long aftertaste, also suggesting hints of dark chocolate.(from Smith Woodhouse web site)